INTRODUCTION kix 



did not take the additional liberty of 1854, subject to future local regu- 

 lations inconsistent with the terms of the grant, because the local sover- 

 eign was "incompetent" to enact any such regulations affecting the 

 inhabitants of the United States in their prosecution of the newly granted 

 fishery. It appears that the Department of State was unfamiUar with 

 the local regulations in effect at the time of the treaty and that Mr. 

 Crampton, British Minister at Washington, called the attention of 

 Mr. Marcy, then Secretary of State, to the existence of certain local acts 

 and regulations. These were examined by Mr. Marcy, who, in a cir- 

 cular issued on March 28, 1856, considered them reasonable and, there- 

 fore, binding upon the inhabitants of the United States fishing within 

 the regions and territories opened to American fishermen by the Treaty 

 of 1854. It will be noted that the matter involved was the Reciprocity 

 Treaty of 1854, not the Convention of 1818, and that the Marcy Circular 

 was prepared for the information and guidance of American fishermen 

 availing themselves of the new grant. 



The Marcy Circular in its final form is not only of importance as 

 expressing the American conception of the rights and duties of American 

 fishermen under the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, but it has had the good 

 fortune to meet with the commendation of Lord Salisbury and the Brit- 

 ish Government and was reUed upon by British counsel in the argument 

 before the Tribunal as a correct statement of the status of American 

 fishermen within British jurisdiction.' 



The circular in question went through several forms, owing to the 

 fact that the original draft was unsatisfactory to the British Minister, 

 and Mr. Marcy, taking note of the objections made to his proposed cir- 

 cular, was unwilling to modify it in the manner proposed by the British 

 Minister. The completed document was not wholly satisfactory to the 

 British Minister, but it contained the final concessions which Mr. Marcy 

 was willing to make. The circular is as follows: 



"It is understood that there are certain Acts of the British North American Colonial 

 legislatures, and also, perhaps, Executive Regulations, intended to prevent the wanton 

 destruction of the fish which frequent the coasts of the Colonies, and injuries to the 

 fishing thereon. It is deemed reasonable and desirable that both the United States 

 and British fishermen should pay a like respect to such laws and regulations, which 

 are designed to preserve and increase the productiveness of the fisheries on those 

 coasts. Such being the object of these laws and regulations, the observance of them 

 is enjoined upon the citizens of the United States in like manner as they are observed 



' Lord Salisbury's note, dated April 3, 1880, to Mr. Hoppin. (Appendix, p. 431; Appen- 

 dix, British Case, p. 27S; Appendix, U. S. Case, p. 683.) 



Sir Robert FirJay said that the circular "contains an express statement in the clearest 

 terms of the doctrine for which Great Britain is now contending before this Tribunal." (Oral 

 Argument, Vol. I, p. 112.) 



